syncing folders suggestions very welcome!

I have an external drive which I use to transfer large video projects from my desktop to laptop and backwards and forwards.
It hasnt worked very well since I sometimes have new media on my laptop or desktop that is newer than on the external drive, and sometimes the external drive version is newest...

I desparately need a syncing programme that is smart enough to only overwrite older files and not replace entire folders regardless of contents (like OSX does natively)

also ive bought a lacie 2gb esata firewire800 usb2 raid 5 box which will do as you suggest, though i will still do some syncing where i have to work locally, for example on the train where i will not be able to use the lacie box.

what a great programme...
if you need to sync, have a very good look at this one... only $30 and well worth it.
you can do it in an easy mode or create rules and save the project so you can run the same parameters whenever you want, and you can even schedule when to run them... excellent.

a= archive (so files are copied with the same settings on the destination as the source)
v= verbose (so you have detailed error messages if any)
r= recursive (so files within folders are also copied)

--progress
so you know the status of the backup and which file is currently being copied

--exclude
so you can exclude folders that don't need to be backed up

'*Render Files*'
because folders like Audio Render Files and Render Files have a space between them, we enclose them within ' so that the command does not interpret the space as a cue to look for the next "switch".

The * is a wildcard operand which means all files and folders which contain the phrase 'Render Files' will be ignored, regardless of what is behind or in front of the phrase itself. The location of the * indicates whether the wildcard applies before or after the phrase.

--delete
This makes the backup a direct mirror of the source at the time of the backup. For example your source contains 2 folders, Project Runway and Drag Race. You finish the Project Runway project and trash the folder.

if --delete is enabled, the backup will also delete Project Runway from the destination, hence the term direct mirror. If you want it to retain files, then do not include --delete.

Bear in mind that if you move files around on your source in between backups you may end up with multiple copies of the same files in their old and new locations.

Can get messy, so to be safe, rsync without --delete, but when your source folder is organized exactly the way you want, add --delete so the correct/organized version is mirrored and the extra/misplaced files are deleted.

An easy way to get your directory locations is to drag the folder into the terminal, the proper location will show up.

You can also download Lingon (google it) which can help you schedule this to run automatically with a number of different triggers.